All Your Kottu Dreams Come to Life at Kottulabs
Ambience
Kottulabs is a restaurant situated in Nawala, hidden away in the suburbs. This amazing creation came to life in February of 2018 as a shared idea of four friends. With extremely different palates, each of them have wanted completely different types of kottu, but they have never been able to find a place that would cater to each of their needs and make the perfect kottu just the way they wanted. Solely because of this reason Kottulabs is extremely customisable from the type of carb you want to what level of spice you want, everything you can adjust the way you want it. The best thing about Kottulabs is that they experiment immensely with new flavours and dishes hence the term “labs” in their brand name, putting forth new creations every month. Kottu is extremely stigmatised for being unhygienic’ because of this they are working on getting the HACCP certification (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point), which says the type of standard they maintain when it comes to food.
Drinks
They currently only have cold beverages on their menu, but they will be adding hot beverages to their menu soon, and they come with a huge Sri Lankan twist.
Beverages
Blue Lagoon
Their Blue Lagoon (Rs. 400), consisted of curacao syrup, lemonade, limes and mints if I’m not mistaken. The taste of the curacao syrup was not quite prominent for me, the lemonade was overpowering it a bit. But overall, it was a really nice drink and was worth the price paid for.
Nelli Fizz
The Nelli Fizz (Rs. 400), is made with nelli syrup and lemonade from what I could gather. This is definitely a nice drink to have with a hefty kottu as it has a very nice punch to it and clears the palate with every sip you take.
The Food
Starter
Pineapple Fries
The Pineapple Fries (Rs. 400), was my favourite out of everything I tasted. I was a little skeptical about it, but my oh my! It blew my mind! They take extremely ripe pineapple for this, making it extremely sweet and not at all tangy. The batter it’s coated with is savoury, so it nicely pairs with the sweetness of the pineapple and brings down the sweetness a bit. This is given with an inhouse mango sauce, which is both sweet and spicy. This goes very nicely with the fries combining with its sweet and savoury-ness. This is a must have when you visit Kottulabs.
Chicken Kebab
The Chicken Kebab (Rs. 480) is also a unique creation, extremely different to the normal kebabs you get at restaurants. They marinade the meat with curd and spices, which gives the meat a nice tenderness and sweetness and an Indian twist to the regular kebab. This was definitely refreshing to have!
Main Course
Beef Wrap
Packed with a lot of meat and flavour, the
Beef Wrap (Rs. 650), is one of the best wraps we’ve had. For a wrap that comes at 650 bucks, they do not hold back with the meat! Also, they have infused some bee's honey with the meat as well, going back to our roots of tribal folk. If you’re a big meat fan and is looking for something that’s bombarded with meat, then this is for you!
Carb Free Kottu
The Carb Free Kottu (Rs. 899) is for those of us searching for a healthy alternative for kottu and still get the same experience. The Carb Free Kottu is one of their signature dishes and is made with seafood, 14 different types of veggies, celery, mint and coriander. They have added inhouse sauces which adds a lot of flavour and depth to the meal and honestly, I didn’t even feel like I was eating a kottu without roti. This is so good and you should definitely try it out!
Create Your Kottu
This is Kottulab’s pride and joy and you get to create your own version of it by picking the carb, 4 types of vegetables, proteins and even the spice level. So, we chose rotti (Regular – Rs. 150, Large – Rs. 200), leeks, carrots, onions, celery, mint and coriander and chicken (Rs. Regular – Rs. 490, large – Rs.
730). Also, I chose the spicy level as spicy. This was packed with flavour and gravy, just like the way we Sri Lankans like it. Even though this was a regular portion, it could be easily shared between two! The spiciness was a tad less for me but I have extremely high spice tolerance, I gulp down kochchi like it’s nothing, so this might be spicy for other people. This is the go to meal if you visit Kottulabs.
For dessert
Strawberry Rotti
They have made desserts with roti as well and Strawberry Rotti (Rs. 500) is made with strawberry jam inside two paratas. For me there wasn’t enough jam and a little too much parata. They do have a range of desserts from local brands they have partnered with and their Chocolate Rotti is a major hit!
Service
Parking
Toilets
What we recommend
We definitely recommend the pineapple fries, chicken kebab and all of their main course dishes.
Would we go again?
We can’t wait to go back and try out whatever marvel they will put together in time to come!